


anything for you

by slimebie



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, I dont know how to write tags, M/M, Panicked Sal Fisher, This is a ship fic, but its okay, comforting larry johnson, unless you arent into that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-09 16:41:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19891015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slimebie/pseuds/slimebie
Summary: It's back; the nightmares that have plagued Sal Fisher ever since... the attack. Although, the only way he can find comfort is through the presence of his best friend.





	anything for you

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT NOTE:  
> this fic contains mentions of nightmares.
> 
> after months of revising, editing, stress eating, and panic i've finally put on my big girl pants and found the courage to post this one-shot !! i'm actually really proud of this fic, and i hope you all enjoy it too !

Sally woke with a start. The room was dimly lit, the posters lining his walls barely visible through the darkness. The chair in the corner seemed to peer back at him through the haze. The only light in the room came through the crack under the door. He sat up quickly, running his hands through his hair to stop it sticking to his face. He took deep breaths, whipped the covers off and kicked them away. He felt claustrophobic underneath the blankets as if they were holding him down, holding him prisoner. 

The cold air from the vents hit his ankles as he stood. His legs were unsteady, the dream still lingering in the back of his mind, causing chills and spasms to rack his body. Sally carefully walked to the window, placing his hands on the cold sill. Snow fluttered peacefully down to the ground, covering it in fresh powder. The neighborhood was silent. Not a single creature stirred. 

Sally’s brain was momentarily distracted by the events from earlier that morning. He and his friends ran wild through the snow, hurling snowballs at each other in a mad frenzy. Larry and Sally had teamed up against Todd and Ashley. Larry created a huge snow barricade while Sally made a pile of fresh snowballs ready to be thrown. Sally had accidentally hit Larry in the back of the head with a snowball, which escalated into a giant dogpile in the middle of the snow. It was the most fun Sally had had in years. 

Eventually, his nightmares found their way back. Vivid images from just moments earlier rushed into his mind like a coursing river, flooding his nerves and drowning out all other thought. He ran back to his bed, putting his head down and clenching the sheets in his fists. Usually, when the nightmares occurred, they were gone as soon as he woke. Sometimes, though, the dreams stayed. He couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. It lingered, sending chills up his spine and causing knots to churn in his stomach. He felt as though he weren’t alone in his room, as if he weren’t alone in his own mind. He could handle the dreams on his own. Usually, the dreams were fragments of old memories and random thoughts weaved together to create an endless loop. While inside them, it was impossible for him to distinguish which parts were real and which were pure fantasy.

Lying on the floor next to Sally’s bed was his walkie-talkie. Larry has given it to him when they first met and it was their most popular form of communication, other than face to face. The two of them would talk late into the night of whatever crossed their minds. He picked it up in his shaky hand, the button beeping as he pressed it. 

“Larry?” He whispered, keeping quiet as to not wake his dad in the next room over. His voice trembled slightly. “Are you awake?”

“ _Sally Face!_ ” Larry replied a moment later. “ _What’s going on?_ ”

Sally was silent. He couldn’t find the words. 

“ _Sally? Are you alright- what’s wrong?_ ” Larry’s voice changed from playful to serious in an instant. “ _Sal?_ ”

“It happened again.” Sally’s voice was small, almost inaudible. “It happened again.”

He stood in his bedroom, his body a shivering mess. 

“ _What do you mean? What happened?_ ”

“It had me… I couldn’t-“ 

“ _Okay, just… calm down. It’s okay,_ ” Larry’s voice crackled through the radio, “ _whatever it is, it isn’t real._ ”

“I do- don’t like it- it, Larry.” Sally struggled, his fear and anxiety slipping from beneath the cracks. 

“ _I’m on my way up-_ “ Larry began, but he was cut off. 

“Not here. Not- not here.”

“ _Sally, I-_ “ 

“I’m coming down.”

“ _Are you sure?_ ”

“I’m s-sure.”

“ _Okay, Sal. I’ll be waiting_.”

Sally set down his walkie slowly, making as little noise as possible. He slipped on his shoes, the white ones that Larry had painted for him for his birthday. They were the first present he’d ever gotten from a friend and he hasn't stopped wearing them since, even though they were going on 3 years old. He grabbed his mask, slipping the straps under his strands of hair. He was sure that no one in the apartments would be up at such an hour, but the mask gave him protection. It gave him security. It kept him away from judgment. He didn’t go anywhere without it. 

He carefully slipped out of his bedroom, walking down the hall to where the metal coat rack stood lopsided next to the front door. He pulled his jacket from off the hooks, sliding it on. He was startled when he heard the floor creak behind him. 

“Sal? What's going on?” He turned to see his dad, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “What are you doing up so late?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Sally’s voice was slick as if the moment before on the radio or the nightmare never even happened. “I was going to see if I could get some tea from Mr. Addison. He’s usually up late.”

They were both silent for a moment. 

“It happened again, didn’t it? The nightmare?”

Sally said nothing. His father could see straight through him. 

“Go. Do what you need to do. I trust you’ll be alright.”

Sally smiled under his mask, unlocking the door and sliding out without another sound.

-

Sally stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the basement level. He slid the key Lisa had given him his first day in the apartments, granting him elevator access to the lowest level. 

The door dinged and slid open, revealing the cracked cement walls of the basement. He stepped out into the chilled air, the cold of the floor seeping up into his shoes. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he walked over to the front of the Johnson residence. He laid a quiet knock on the door. To his surprise, Larry answered almost immediately. 

He stood in the doorway, his long hair a tangled mess on his head. Half of it was pulled into a messy bun on top. He wore one of his signature black _Sanity’s Fall_ t-shirts and black and red checkered pajama bottoms to match. Sally recognized his socks as a pair of his own that Larry must have stolen from his drawer. 

“Sally Face.” 

“Larry Face.” Larry smiled at him, grabbing his arm and pulling him inside. 

The inside of the apartment was shadowy, only a light from the living room and the lamps in the kitchen illuminating the space. This apartment was like a second home to Sally and he knew every inch of it by heart. He could faintly see the old photographs that lined the walls, including one of him and Larry as young freshmen. 

With Sally’s arm still in his grasp, Larry quietly pulled him down the hall to his bedroom. They both slipped through the door, careful not to make more sound than necessary. Closing the door behind them, Larry flicked on the lamp next to his bed, bringing a soft, hazy glow to his bedroom. 

Sally sat down on the edge of the bed, pressing his palms into his knees. He felt strange in Larry’s bedroom as if he were out of place. The room where they had first met, the room they would play video games in and headbang to grungy music, the room he had slept in a thousand times, and he felt as if he’d never been here before. He had brought his outside life into this sacred place. He’d tainted it. 

He hadn’t noticed Larry kneel down in front of him until he felt warm hands on his own. He looked up to his friend. Even though he was down on one knee, Larry still towered over him as if he were a child. 

“What’s going on, Sal?”

Sally sat silently, tears forming in his eyes. They were the only part of him visible under the mask. There was no way to hide his pain, no way to keep it secret any longer.

“Talk to me. It’s just you and me, nobody else.”

Sally pulled his hands away, pushing them to his eyes. As he cried, Larry sat down next to him, wrapping his arms around his friend. Sally leaned into his touch, easing his own arms around Larry. They sat together in the silence of the room, the only sound coming from Sally’s sobs and Larry’s words of comfort. 

As the sobs turned to sniffles, Larry pulled away, brushing some hair out of Sally’s face. 

“Better?” 

“Better.” Sally ran his hands through his hair, taking a deep breath as he did so. 

“How does hot chocolate sound to you?”

Sally nodded. Larry smiled at him, rubbing Sally’s shoulder before slipping quietly out the bedroom door. He looked around the room, giving his mind time to recuperate. He had been there just that afternoon, but it felt like forever ago. Rough sketches, paintings, and obscure posters lined the walls. Many of the sketches were of Sally. Larry always said that he was “the perfect character study.”

Larry returned a few minutes later, two mugs of steaming cocoa in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other. He set the plate on the bedside table, handing Sally a mug as he sat crisscrossed on the bed. 

“Thank you,” Sally whispered, lifting up his mask and taking a sip. It was full of whipped cream and marshmallows, just how Sally always made it. 

“No problem,” Larry replied, taking a swig of his own. The two sat in silence for a while, the occasional crunch of a cookie being the only thing that broke the quiet. Sally knew that Larry wouldn’t push him with any questions. There was an unspoken rule between them that was never broken. Secrets they kept were named “secret” for a reason. 

“Do you remember the dreams I told you about?” 

“The weird-jumbled ones?”

“Those would be the ones.” Sally set down his mug, situating his mask back into its rightful place. “I had one of those.”

“I thought you said you’d forgotten them, though,” Larry replied, shoving another cookie into his mouth.

“This one was _different_.” Larry focused in, setting down his mug. “I remember all of it. Every bit. It was _real, Larry_.”

“That’s impossible, Sal. Dreams aren’t real, they’re just, stuff your brain makes up from other stuff you’ve seen.”

“You don’t understand!” Sally raised his voice, and Larry sat up a little straighter. “It was real because it _already happened to me_.” 

Larry sat back, a confused expression spread across his face. Underneath, Sally could tell that he was concerned. He took a deep breath, burying his hands in his lap. 

“When I was young, no older than 7, I went on a picnic with my mom. I was running through all the trees, having the time of my life.

“I stopped when I saw this dog. I wanted to pet it _so bad_. I ran back to my mom, yelling and begging her to let me play with it. She insisted we wait for my dad, but I was a persistent child, so she eventually caved.

“We walked into the forest, my hand in hers, looking for this dog. Eventually, we walked deep enough in that we saw it. A large, black dog with matted fur and bright red eyes. The last thing I can remember was its eyes, its blood red eyes, staring directly back at mine.”

Larry stared at Sally with pain in his eyes. He had leaned closer and put a hand on Sally’s leg. His normal lackadaisical figure was gone, replaced with a form of intense intent. 

“I woke up on the ground. I could tell the sky was dark, but I didn’t know why. I…”

Tears began to well up in Sally’s eyes. His voice hitched. His body began to tremble. Larry grabbed Sally’s hands, taking them gently in his own. 

“I couldn’t see anything out of my right eye. My face burned like I’d been set on fire. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.” 

Sally looked down for a moment, trying to gather his bearings, then looked back up at his friend. 

“It got me, Larry. _The dog got me_.” Sally could see tears fall from Larry’s eyes. The two of them sat together, looking into each other’s eyes, tears falling from each. Larry carefully pulled Sally’s hands closer to him, closer to his chest. 

“Sal, I-” Larry began, but he was cut off when Sally began to adjust. He moved towards his friend, wrapping his legs around Larry’s torso. He pulled Larry into a tight hug, letting all of his pent up emotions come out in loose sobs. Larry hugged him back, holding him as if he would disappear if he let go. 

“ _Don’t let it get me_ ,” Sally whispered. Larry gripped him tighter, burying his head in Sally’s neck. 

“As long as I’m here,” he murmured, “I won’t let _anything_ hurt you.”

~

The two of them sat entangled in each other’s arms until Larry finally heard Sally’s tears subside. He gently ran his fingers along Sally’s back, trying to keep the boy calm in his arms. 

“Sal?” Larry whispered, running his fingers through Sally’s hair. He got a long, deep breath in response. Larry just smiled. “Sal, wake up.” Sally sat there for a few more moments before lifting up his head, his blue hair falling in his face in a mess of curls. 

“What time is it?” 

“Around 4 AM.”

“We’ve been asleep like this for 3 hours?”

“Seems like it.”

“Hm.” Sally leaned his head back onto Larry’s shoulder. “Thank you, Larry.” 

Larry could feel a blush creep up over his cheeks. “Anything for you, Sally Face.”


End file.
